Tokyo (CNN) -- Burdened by the weight of mounting national tragedies, residents in Japan painted a bleak picture Thursday of the still-unfolding crises but remained hopeful that they will pull through.
In the hardest-hit parts, thousands of citizens, most of them elderly, settled in into shelters -- indefinitely.
Surprisingly, this story started out right. Western news is focused, obsessively almost, on the drama unfolding at the Daichii nuclear power plant. Copy writers are falling over themselves to work in references to Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, almost gleefully hoping for a massive nuclear tragedy (in Japan of all places) to both condemn nuclear power and capitalize on the sensationalism (I'll leave the condemnation for the gleeful "Dirty Laundry" perversity of coverage alternating with attempts at somber reminders of the devastation and how they fall flat to others...)
The Chernobyl disaster resulted from poor maintenance, no containment, and other factors that just simply are not present in the Daichii plant. The containment at the Daichii plant has been compromised, yes - but the containment at Chernobyl was non-existent. It's simply not the same thing. Far more comparable is the event at Three Mile Island, which, while causing significant environmental turmoil, was not TEOTWAWKI for the people of Pennsylvania. And yet, Americans are rushing out to buy potassium iodide.
Baaaaaaah.
That is all.
7 comments:
......and they are already booking experts and blocking out time for next week's coverage .....
"Deaths due to adverse reactions to Potassium Iodide tablets ..... "
John Edwards may make a comeback after all.
Okay, I'm getting notifications that folks have commented here, but nothing's showing up...
The thing is, if you are prepared, you should ALREADY HAVE KI/KIO3. It is (normally) inexpensive and available. And it stores forever, and will be good longer than Twinkies....
Not that you should ever take it unless there is a risk of radioactive iodine in significant amounts in your environment.
Which there won't be, here in the lower 48 (at least not caused by the current issue).
Have you seen what people are paying for geiger counters/survey meters on Ebay lately? (not that most would know how to use them if they needed them, not what to do with the information they provide anyway).
All they know is "OMG!!! Radiation bad!".
...the gleeful "Dirty Laundry" perversity of coverage...
Thanks, now I'll have that song stuck in my head all day.
What Mr.B said. I have all that stuff already, bought when it was cheap and plentiful. Why not? There are at least 4 major nuclear facilities in a 30 or so mile radius of me, plus a few smaller ones. Why should I wait until something happens and the goverment is trying to distribute KI to millions of people b4 it's too late?
I work at a nuclear plant (same make and model as 4 of the 6 reactors at Daichi) and I am not buying KI or a geiger counter. Although, I will admit I looked up the manufacture of KI and found that they are not a publically traded company so I can't make a boatload of money in the next few weeks off of peoples irrational fears. Yes, I have no problem taking money from irrational stupidity.
Winter cold, lack of food, potable water, shelter and destroied infrastructure are a lot bigger problems for a lot more Japanese than are the four sick reactors, agreed 100%.
Oh, and here's another brilliant "thank you feds" moment: people on the west coast are giving their kids KI because the Surgeon General mentioned that it might be a good idea, something she walked back later that day. Potassium-iodide blocks thyroid, which is the point IF you are exposed.
The pediatrician in my family, who did some medical work around the Chernobyl area between 1991 and 2001, wonders how many US kids are going to have thyroid-related problems from after being given unnecessary KI.
LittleRed1
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